Unresponsive Clients

0d4ed13e · ‎11-05-2021

Great day everyone!

I have 4 clients who aren't responsive on upwork. Should I close the contract or just leave it open and wait for upwork to close it? Will it affect my JSS Score if I have open contracts but no earnings? Enlighten me, please. Thank you so much

petra_r · ‎11-06-2021

Samera H wrote: I have 4 clients who aren't responsive on upwork. Should I close the contract or just leave it open and wait for upwork to close it?

Are those fixed rate contracts with money in Escrow? If not, Upwork won't ever close them.

Samera H wrote: Will it affect my JSS Score if I have open contracts but no earnings?

No, it won't.

Feel free to close them, maybe not all at once but one after the other, the oldest first.

0d4ed13e · ‎11-06-2021

Hi Petra, 3 hourly clients and 1 fixed price all are 1 month unresponsive. I don't want to pester them. I want to give way to other clients that need me. I need space on my active contracts.

If ever I closed the unresponsive client's contract, if they didn't give a feedback will it also lower my jss score? Or just ignore it even they won't give a review? As long as I mark it as job successfully completed?

petra_r · ‎11-06-2021

Samera H wrote:
I want to give way to other clients that need me. I need space on my active contracts.

You don't really.

Samera H wrote:
If ever I closed the unresponsive client's contract, if they didn't give a feedback will it also lower my jss score? Or just ignore it even they won't give a review?

No, those contracts would only lower your JSS if the clients left poor feedback

wlyonsatl · ‎11-06-2021

Samera H.,

If you look at Find Work/Profile/See Public View on your Upwork home page you’ll see under “Work History” the number of your “Completed jobs” and “In progress” jobs.

There are at least some, probably many, potential clients who may decide your “In progress” jobs count is so high that you are too busy to devote the necessary time and focus on their project if they were to hire you. So they move on to less busy freelancers, either ignoring your proposal on their project or not inviting you to submit a proposal, neither of which is good for you.

You need to remove idle projects from your “In progress” jobs list from time to time. I’m sure every freelancer’s experience in this respect is unique, but my experience is that 25% - 50% of all clients just disappear, never to be heard from again, either before or after I’ve completed their project. I usually close their projects after 4 – 6 weeks of unresponsiveness, making sure they know I’m happy to re-start the project at their convenience (if that’s true).

These same absent clients very, very rarely leave feedback and my current JSS is 100%.

0d4ed13e · ‎11-08-2021

Hi Will, How do you usually say to clients that you want to close the contract in a positive way?

wlyonsatl · ‎11-08-2021

Samera,

When I contact a client I haven't heard from for 3 or 4 weeks I send them a message along the lines of...

"Hi, ______.

I hope your project is moving forward. It has been a while since we have talked.

It is difficult for me to win new projects on Upwork if it appears I have a lot of “active” projects, so I need to confirm inactive projects from time to time.

If you’d like me to do any additional work for you in the next couple of weeks, please let me know and I’ll be ready to get re-started whenever it suits you.

If you do not expect you will want me to get back to work for you in the foreseeable future, please close the project. If you decide to close it, you can easily re-start it or you can invite me to a new project at any time.

Thanks,

Will"

If I still get no response after another 2 -3 weeks, I send a message along these lines...

"Hi, _____________.

We haven’t spoken in quite a long time, so I have taken the liberty to close the project on Upwork’s system for the time being. We can easily re-start it at any time.

I have left excellent feedback for you, but it is difficult for me to get new projects when I show a large number of “active” projects on Upwork’s system and those projects are actually dormant.

If you have any questions, would like to have a call or would like to re-start the project, please let me know.

Thanks again for your business.

Regards,

Will"

These are just outlines. I try to keep the message positive, polite, but to the point, even if I didn't enjoy working with them and I do not actually plan to ever work for them again.

Good luck!

roberty1y · ‎11-06-2021

I've been wondering about that, having handed over work to a client a week ago who hasn't responded. It's understood that I'll do a revision if necessary, so I don't want to close the contract yet. I don't want to pester the client with requests for a response, but nor do I want to leave a contract open for too long, because on my work history it would seem a job took me over a month when in fact I finished it in a couple of days. What would be a reasonable time to wait before asking a client to please suggest amendments so I can finish up and close the contract?

petra_r · ‎11-06-2021

Robert Y wrote:
nor do I want to leave a contract open for too long, because on my work history it would seem a job took me over a month when in fact I finished it in a couple of days. W

I think you're overthinking this. I doubt a client thinks it took you over a month... Clients don't drill that deeply into history. They just want to see your feedback and maybe your earnings.

Robert Y wrote:
What would be a reasonable time to wait before asking a client to please suggest amendments so I can finish up and close the contract?

At the VERY least 2 week if it is a fixed rate contract (otherwise you don't even get paid if you close the contract with the money still in escrow) - as that is how long clients have to review your work.

I'd also wait a very minimum of 2 weeks if it is hourly.

roberty1y · ‎11-06-2021

Petra said:

At the VERY least 2 week if it is a fixed rate contract (otherwise you don't even get paid if you close the contract with the money still in escrow) - as that is how long clients have to review your work.

I'd also wait a very minimum of 2 weeks if it is hourly.

Thanks for your reply. It's a fixed rate contract, in two milestones, each being to write one article. I contacted the client a few hours after sending in the first one, which I realize was a mistake (he did get back to me and I did a revision). Sometimes clients give the impression that they're about to review the work immediately, so I'd contact them if they didn't reply the same day. Of course this was a mistake. "I'll look at your work right now and let you know what I'd like changed" often means they'll look at it in the next week or two.

BTW, what's wrong with the quote function? (") I don't have it any more.

petra_r · ‎11-06-2021

Robert Y wrote:
Thanks for your reply. It's a fixed rate contract

Then whatever you do, don't close the contract. That would send the money for the second milestone back to the client.

Robert Y wrote:
I contacted the client a few hours after sending in the first one, which I realize was a mistake (he did get back to me and I did a revision).

Don't do that. Submit. Do nothing until you're paid.

Robert Y wrote:

BTW, what's wrong with the quote function? (") I don't have it any more.

It's hiding. Click on the 3 horizontal

dots which expands the extra stuff.

roberty1y · ‎11-06-2021

Petra R wrote:
Robert Y wrote:
Thanks for your reply. It's a fixed rate contract
Then whatever you do, don't close the contract. That would send the money for the second milestone back to the client.

Sorry, I made a mistake - it's only one milestone, for two jobs. But if it were two milestones, why would the money for the second be sent back?

petra_r · ‎11-06-2021

Robert Y wrote:
Sorry, I made a mistake - it's only one milestone, for two jobs. But if it were two milestones, why would the money for the second be sent back?

Have you been **paid**? If any money is in escrow and you close the contract, that money goes back to the client. NEVER end a fixed rate contract until all money in escrow has been paid to you.

roberty1y · ‎11-06-2021

Petra R wrote:
Robert Y wrote:
Sorry, I made a mistake - it's only one milestone, for two jobs. But if it were two milestones, why would the money for the second be sent back?
Have you been **paid**? If any money is in escrow and you close the contract, that money goes back to the client. NEVER end a fixed rate contract until all money in escrow has been paid to you.

No, I haven't been paid. What I would normally do is click on "Submit work for payment" first. I'd also hope to get the client to close the contract, so that he could leave feedback. I should have explained that I didn't mean "close the contract" literally.

roberty1y · ‎11-06-2021

BTW, if I submit work for payment when the client is unresponsive, do I need to wait till I get paid before I close the contract? That's the situation with another job I've done, but I'm sure the client won't be in contact again, as it's been over two months since he's shown up on the site. The payment will come through in two weeks, obviously.

petra_r · ‎11-06-2021

Robert Y wrote:
BTW, if I submit work for payment when the client is unresponsive, do I need to wait till I get paid before I close the contract? That's the situation with another job I've done, but I'm sure the client won't be in contact again, as it's been over two months since he's shown up on the site. The payment will come through in two weeks, obviously.

Don't you use the "submit for payment" function to submit your work to the client? If not, why in the world not? That is what that function is there for. Why are you sending the work and then hanging on for 2 months?

And yes, you must wait until you have received the payment before you close the contract if you intend to get paid. As I explained, when there is money in Escrow, it will go back to the client if you close the contract.

roberty1y · ‎11-06-2021

Petra R wrote:
Robert Y wrote:
BTW, if I submit work for payment when the client is unresponsive, do I need to wait till I get paid before I close the contract? That's the situation with another job I've done, but I'm sure the client won't be in contact again, as it's been over two months since he's shown up on the site. The payment will come through in two weeks, obviously.
Don't you use the "submit for payment" function to submit your work to the client? If not, why in the world not? That is what that function is there for. Why are you sending the work and then hanging on for 2 months?

Yes, I use the "Submit for payment" button, unless the client pays me before I can do that.

The reason I hung on for so long with this particular job is that the client seemed dissatisfied but didn't fully explain why, and I thought it best to leave it for a while and then close the contract myself. Also, I wanted to wait till I had Top Rated status, so I could remove the feedback if it was bad.